


Kismet

by Hemibim01



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Auror Harry Potter, Divorce, Divorced Harry Potter & Ginny Weasley, Drama, Drama & Romance, F/M, Family Drama, Healer Draco Malfoy, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Minor Character Death, Multi, Not Epilogue Compliant, Not Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Compliant, Romance, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Soulmates, Widow Draco Malfoy, the potter children
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-20
Updated: 2018-08-26
Packaged: 2018-09-10 15:40:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,138
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8922847
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hemibim01/pseuds/Hemibim01
Summary: If a company were able to tell you your soulmate, would you want to know?





	1. Prologue

It had been all the rage when the war ended. Ads started appearing in The Daily Prophet saying things like ‘FIND YOUR SOULMATE IN ONE SIMPLE PHRASE’ or ‘MAKE SURE THEY’RE REALLY THE ONE FOR YOU’ but pretty soon more information came out. 

It was a company called Kisses & Kismet and they claimed to be able to match people up with their soulmates with only a drop of their blood and a sample of their magic. In return they would send out a potion that, when ingested would do nothing, until the drinker heard their soulmate speak a specific phrase. The potion would then revel itself as a permanent tattoo of the words, accompanied by some tingling and warming sensations. 

“Come on Harry, let’s do it,” Ginny had begged. 

“I don’t need some dodgy potion to tell me that you’re my soulmate Gin,” he had responded. 

“I just think it would be sweet to have a tattoo of something you said on me forever,” 

“Yea, but for all you know it could be something like ‘Pass the salt’,” Ron joked. 

“Ronald,” Hermione sighed. “You know nothing about romance.” 

“You think this is romantic?” he turned on his girlfriend. “You of all people? Miss Logical?” 

“Sometimes love is devoid of logic,” she answered back. 

“Fine, if Harry and Ginny do it then we’ll do it too,” Ron told her defiantly. 

“If it will make you happy Gin,” Harry looked at her. “I’ll do it.” 

Harry still remembered that day so well, not a week later the four of them were sending off their blood and magic to Kisses & Kismet and a few weeks later they each received a little glass vial full of clear liquid which they all had drank. 

Time passed and nothing happened, Ron and Hermione married and so did Harry and Ginny. Soon the four friends were so busy with their lives, work and families that they forgot all about the soulmate potion. 

Harry wished it had stayed that way because if it had he would not be going through a very sudden and painful divorce. He would not be in the middle of his feuding best friends, and he certainly would not be standing in the middle of the Ministry clutching his arm to hide the words that had just appeared on his skin. 

“What’s the matter Potter? Was it something I said?” 

Harry looked in disbelief up at Draco Malfoy who was…apparently his soulmate.


	2. A Rough Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ginny has some news and Harry doesn't react well.

Harry Potter had faced a lot in his 30 years of life but he had never faced this feeling before. His heart didn’t know if it wanted to race or crawl to a halt so it had settled on this odd waltz like rhythm. He felt as if his stomach had fallen all the way down to his knees but his heart had jumped up into his throat and was trying to choke him. Finally after a few deep breaths he blinked up at his wife and found his voice. 

“I’m sorry Gin, but can you repeat that?” 

The redhead took a deep breath of her own. “I want a trial separation.” 

Harry heard her this time. He was glad that they had dropped off James, Albus and Lily at their grandparents for a visit because he didn’t think that this conversation was going to go well. 

“Why?” was all he could ask and he continued to look at the woman sitting across from him at their kitchen table. 

She sighed. “I’m not happy Harry. I haven’t been happy since before I was pregnant with Lily, and then she was born and I thought it would be enough but it’s not.” 

“Gin come on,” he reached out and took her hand. “I love you.” 

“No, Harry,” she said, getting to her feet and moving away from him. “You are in love with a woman that doesn’t exist anymore. I’m not the Ginny you knew at Hogwarts, I’m not the Ginny who fought in the war, I’m not even the Ginny you married. People change all the time, except for you.” 

“What is that supposed to mean?” 

“You’re stuck in the past Harry,” she told him, her frustration rising. “Your job keeps you away from your family and stresses you out, but you have to play the hero so you’ll never give it up. You and Ron still cavort around getting into trouble like you’re back at Hogwarts, you don’t take responsibility for the things you do that are wrong, you even named our children after ghosts from your past.” 

“I named them after my parents, and other people I loved who died,” he insisted. 

“Maybe I had people I loved who I wanted to name my children after,” she countered. “You don’t have a monopoly on pain and loss Harry. You named my son after one man who tormented you, and other people you care about, and another who used you like a piece in a chess match against Voldemort.” 

“You know that neither of them had a choice i-” 

“Everyone always has a choice,” she said firmly, crossing her arms across her chest. “So Snape was a double agent, that meant he couldn’t at least have tried to be a decent human being? And I know plenty of other people who did more for you than Snape or Dumbledore.” 

“Like wh-” 

“Hagrid, Remus, my own father,” she cut him off. “Not to mention all the people who died so you could kill Voldemort.” 

Harry lowered his eyes, not able to even look at her and for the first time noticed something that there looked to be something wrapped around her wrist. At first Harry just assumed it was a bracelet but then he noticed that it seemed to be made out of swooping, inky black letters. 

“What’s that?” he asked pointing to her right hand. 

She hesitated only for a moment before putting her wrist down at her side to obscure his view a little bit. 

“It’s none of your concern Harry,” Ginny tried telling him. 

“Bullshit,” he responded getting to his feet. “It looks like a tattoo, like the kind that was supposed to happen when we took those ridiculous soulmate potions.” 

Ginny didn’t move. 

“So that’s why you want to leave me,” he whispered. “Because of some stupid phrase that some random man said is now permanently displayed on your skin.” 

“It wasn’t some random man,” Ginny insisted. 

“But you are leaving me for him,” 

“Damnit Harry, stop seeing things as so black and white!” 

“Is he expecting you tonight? Are you going to start moving your things out now?” 

“He doesn’t even know this happened,” Ginny told her husband. “Just because I’ve been unhappy doesn’t mean I’ve been cheating.” 

“Who is it?” 

“I don’t think you need to know Harry,” 

“Whose words are those?” 

“It doesn’t matter,” 

“Tell me!” 

Ginny sat back and seemed to hesitate. “Blaise.” 

“Zabini?!?” Harry was floored. “You’ve been in contact with him since you left the team?” 

“He wasn’t just some mysterious presence who happened to have a share in the team, he worked with us just as much as our coaches did.” 

“Which is crazy because it was an all-female team-” 

“The players were all female Harry, he was co-owner along with his aunt. She recently passed away so now Blaise owns the whole team.” 

“That doesn’t explain why you’ve been seeing him,” 

“He’s my friend. You don’t have an issue with any of my other male friends, like Neville, or Seamus, or even Dean, whom I once dated.” 

“None of them are Slytherins,” 

“So that’s it,” she remarked crossing her arms. “You forgive Snape for everything he did, name one of your sons after him but yet you’re still prejudiced.” 

“Well, Zabini hung around Malfoy so who knows what kind of bloke he is,” 

“I’ve had enough of this,” Ginny huffed, getting to her feet and starting to walk toward their bedroom. “There is no talking to you when you’re like this.” 

“You thought I would handle my wife leaving me well?” Harry asked following her. 

“Of course not, but I thought you might be able to understand that if you’re not my soulmate than that means the perfect person for you is out there.” 

“What if I don’t want anyone else?” 

Ginny rounded on him. “Harry, if you can look me in the eye right now, tell me you’ve been as happy in our marriage today as you were on our wedding day, and make me believe it….I won’t leave. I’ll forget about the tattoo, and Blaise and everything except working on our marriage.” 

Harry took a deep breath and raised his green eyes to meet Ginny’s brown ones. He looked deeply into them and tried to summon the same feelings he had for her when they got married. He tried to remember all the reasons he was in love with his wife and when they didn’t come to him immediately Harry knew that Ginny was right. Perhaps he wasn’t in love with Ginny anymore, perhaps they didn’t have the passion and epic romance they had in the beginning, but was that really a reason to call it quits? They did have three children that needed both of their parents, they had family members and friends who worried about them, they had a history. Maybe Ginny was ready to throw that all away but Harry certainly wasn’t. 

He took another deep breath and look at his wife. “I have been happy with our lives from the moment I said I do.” 

Ginny shook her head. “You’ve always been such a bad liar Harry.” 

She waved her wand a few times and in less than a minute she was walking toward the Floo. 

“I’ll be at the Burrow with the kids. I think it’s best if you have some time alone for now and in a few days I’ll bring the kids home and we can talk to them about what’s going to happen next.” 

Harry didn’t say anything as he watched her toss the powder into the flames and disappear. For a few minutes he just stood there, stunned, not sure what to do with himself. The first thing he noticed was how the emptiness of the house seemed to almost pulse around him. The silence mocked him as it hung heavy in the air. He walked in and out of every room in the house, saving their bedroom, trying to take stock of his emotions but with each step he took things became less certain. Finally he came to their bedroom and sat down on the edge of their king sized bed to think, the problem was there were so many things rushing through his head he didn’t even know where to begin. Did he and Ginny have problems? Of course they did, all couples do, but were they really that insurmountable? 

They had pretty much stopped having sex since Lily was born, and the worst part was neither of them seemed to mind. The night they conceived Lily the couple had only had sex because they were both drunk after spending a night out celebrating Seamus’s birthday. They could go for days without speaking or sometimes even acknowledging each other. When one of them was working late the other no longer waited up for them. They didn’t talk about their day with each other anymore, it seemed like the only thing they did talk about was the kids. 

The former Gryffindor shook his head, and after grabbing a few things of his own he raised his wand and apparated to Grimmauld place. As soon as he landed, Kreacher appeared next to him. 

“What is Master doing here?” he asked. “Master has a family now.” 

Harry rolled his eyes and wondered how the ancient elf was still alive. “Bring me firewhiskey, Kreacher. The whole bottle, please.” 

He left with a crack and was back a few moments later with a bull bottle of Ogden’s best and a glass. He held them out to the black haired man. 

“I won’t be needing that,” he gestured to the glass, as he took the liquor from the elf. 

“Master shouldn’t be drinking alone,” Kreacher said, his voice almost concerned. 

“I think I preferred you when you called everyone nasty names,” he responded. “You can go now.” 

Harry went upstairs to his room. After the war and before he and Ginny had gotten married this had been his home, well his and Kreacher’s. Harry had tried to set the elf free years ago but he refused to take the clothes he was presented with, and had managed to chain himself to the wall with his own magic and refused to eat or leave unless he was allowed to stay as the house elf to the Noble House of Black. Now Harry wondered if he would move back here, he wondered if he would end up like the odd little elf, alone with only his work to live for. 

He uncorked the bottle in his hand and began to drink, and not slowly. Thinking of all the shortcomings Ginny had listed he tried to figure out a way to fix things, but the alcohol was quickly going to his head. Harry had never had a very high tolerance for spirits, and he didn’t drink often so this had certainly not been one of his brighter ideas, still he kept drinking. Pretty soon he had a million different ideas and plans for his life. He would sweep Ginny off her feet and show her that Blaise Zabini would never be able to make her happy. He would quit being an Auror and be a fulltime dad and Ginny could go back to playing Quidditch. Those had been the best years of their marriage. Or maybe he would put himself back on the market and see if he couldn’t find his own soulmate. After all he was still good looking, still fit and active, and still Harry Potter. 

As the alcohol in the bottle lessened Harry decided he didn’t care what happened, all he wanted was sleep. So he hoisted himself out of the armchair he was in and unsteadily made his way toward his bed, but when did it get so far. It was on the other side of the room but that was like a kilometer away. He took another slug of his drink to steady himself and then took a step toward his destination…and ended up face down on the floor, passed out. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

_“Rennervate”_

The first thing Harry became aware of was the permeating the pain in his head and the fog surrounding him. He opened his eyes and found himself in a room full of white with a blurry human like shape standing above him. 

“Potter,” an icy voice called to him through the haze. “Potter, can you hear me?” 

Harry groaned and tried to roll over to get away from the voice. 

“You must help Master good Malfoy,” another gruffer voice spoke. 

“Kreacher, go away,” the black haired wizard groaned. 

“Rennervate,” the icy voice spoke again. 

Sitting bolt upright Harry gasped. “What in Merlin’s name is going on?” 

His eyes focused and next to Kreacher stood Draco Malfoy looking just as pale and pointy as he ever did. 

“Rough night Potter?” he asked. 

“You’re a healer Malfoy?” 

“Save the cracks for later, believe it or not I’m trying to help you,” he added, handing him a potion. “Drink that.” 

Harry hesitated, looking at it questioningly. 

“For Merlin’s sake Potter, it’s a sobriety potion,” 

The ache in Harry’s head won out over the little voice telling him not to trust Draco Malfoy and he swallowed the potion, waiting patiently for it to take effect. 

“How did I get here?” he finally wondered. 

“Master drank too much-” Kreacher started to speak. 

“Kreacher, go home,” Harry ordered. 

The elf grumbled, but disappeared with a crack. 

“Now Malfoy, what happened?” 

“Your house elf brought you in when he found you unconscious,” the other man replied. “A little surprised you even have a house elf, considering Granger’s stance on them.” 

“I tried to free him but he refuses to leav-” Harry started. “Why in the hell am I telling you this?” 

“Well you’re lucky you’re not dead, considering how much firewhiskey you drank,” he continued looking down at a file in his hands. “I tried Flooing your home but no one answered so I called Weasley’s instead. Hermione answered and she’s here.” 

“Since when do you call her by her first name?” Harry wondered. 

The blond ignored him, went over to the door and gestured to someone outside. A few seconds later his bushy haired best friend was striding into the room. 

“Harry,” she sighed with relief. “You scared me to death. Draco called and said you had been brought into St. Mungo’s. I came as soon as I could, Ron’s home with the kids. What in the world happened? You never drink that much.” 

He looked at his friend in a way that clearly said ‘Not now’ and hoped that she wouldn’t ask him anything else. This day had been bad enough without Malfoy finding out about his marital problems. He would know soon enough anyway, Zabini would probably go bragging to anyone that would listen that he stole Harry Potter’s wife away from him. 

“Can he leave soon?” Hermione turned to the Slytherin. 

“Unfortunately no,” he replied. “He has to speak with one of our emotional healers just to make sure he’s in a secure enough mental state to be released.” 

“You think I tried to kill myself?” Harry wondered. 

“What I think is immaterial, I’m only following hospital protocol.” 

“Just doing what you’re told,” Harry echoed. “That excuse saved you from Azkaban didn’t it Malfoy.” 

“Harry!” Hermione scolded. 

“Only after my mother saved you so you could save everyone else,” Draco spoke tightly. “I have other patients to attend to, if you’ll excuse me. Hermione, I’ll let you know when he’s allowed to go home.” 

Without another word, Draco Malfoy walked swiftly out of the room and shut the door behind him. 

“That was rude,” Hermione said sharply. 

“It’s Malfoy,” Harry reminded her. “Since when are you and he on a first name basis anyway?” 

Hermione sighed. “A few years ago he owled me and invited me to tea at his home. He wanted to apologize for the things that happened while we were at school. Since then he and I have been very civil to each other, he even apologized to Ron.” 

“Well he hasn’t apologized to me,” Harry sniffed. 

“Well you’re so quick to jump down his throat maybe he hasn’t had the chance,” Hermione suggested. “Now what is going on with you?” 

“That stupid soulmate potion you and Ginny were so keen on.” 

“What about it?” She asked crossing her arms and looking at him. 

“It worked,” he told her. “The only problem is that I am not my wife’s soulmate, and she wants to get separated so she can be with him.” 

Hermione stood silent for a moment or two. “Did Ginny tell you who he is?” 

“Zabini,” Harry ground out. “She went to the Burrow so I went to Grimmauld place and started to drink and the next thing I know I’m here.” 

“I never thought I would say this, but thank Merlin Kreacher is so loyal.” 

“Of course he brought me to Malfoy,” 

“Stop being dramatic Harry, Draco happened to be the Healer on duty when you came in.” 

“You calling him by his first name is really odd,” Harry remarked. 

She sighed. “Well maybe if you would stop living in the past it wouldn’t be so odd.” 

“That’s just what Ginny said,” Harry groaned running his hands through his hair. “I didn’t realize I was so horrible.” 

She looked at him with that exhausted, slightly judgmental, look that Harry knew so well. 

“Look Hermione, I’m pretty tired,” he finally looked at her. “If I have to talk to some kind of therapist tomorrow I should probably get some sleep.” 

She nodded. “I’ll come back tomorrow to make sure everything is alright.” 

“Goodnight Hermione,” Harry gave her a small smile. 

“Goodnight,” she said before turning to leave. 

As she walked toward the Floo, Hermione saw Draco standing outside one of the rooms, making notes in one of his files. 

“Draco,” she addressed him. “I’m sorry about what Harry said to you.” 

“It’s fine, I don’t really expect anything different from most people. I’m lucky that you accepted my apology.” 

“I know that people can change, and I know that you are a different person than you were at Hogwarts,” Hermione smiled at him. 

“Thank you, now you should get home. It’s late, Potter will be fine, and if anything happens I’ll let you know, but this is all mostly formality.” 

“I understand,” she said, picking up a handful of Floo powder. “Oh, and Draco. I was really sorry to hear about Astoria. How is Scorpius handling things?” 

“He’s doing alright,” Draco told her, not sure what else to say. His wife had passed away two months ago, and he and his son were still adjusting to life without her. “I’ve been trying to spend as much time with him as I can.” 

“Well one night you’ll have to come over for dinner,” Hermione told her former enemy. “He could spend some time with Rose and Hugo.” 

Draco managed a smile. “Thank you Hermione, that would be nice. I’m not on speaking terms with my parents or Astoria’s. Daphne and Blaise are the only people I can really turn to.” 

“Well you’re not alone,” she assured him. 

“Goodnight Hermione.” 

“Goodnight,” she said, throwing the Floo powder in and walking into the flames. 

Draco let out a sigh as she left. It was going to be a very long night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is the first chapter of Kismet. This is my interpretation of Harry after the war. Having Snape up on a pedestal while he still looks down on other Slytherins. I also am not one of those people who excuses Snape's behaviour just because he was in love with Lily. Hopefully the arcs I'm creating will do each of the characters justice. Stay tuned for the next installment and if you have any thoughts, questions, concerns, comments, please leave them for me. Thank you to all my readers.


	3. Mindful

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I was away for so long. All of my Fanfic's were on pause while I worked on my original stories, but I'm back to work. This chapter deals a lot with mental health. It doesn’t seem to be touched on a lot in the HP world but with this storyline, it was something I wanted to include. I know that the Healers at St. Mungo’s deal a lot with magical issues like spell damage but might not deal with witches and wizards who might have depression or other mental illnesses. So I have taken a little creative license in this chapter with how mental health might be dealt with.

Harry didn’t sleep well that night. He wasn’t sure if it was just the bed at St. Mungo’s, the problems with Ginny or the knowledge that Malfoy was checking in on him every few hours. He tossed and turned knowing that news of his problems with his wife had already spread, by now Arthur and Molly would know, so would Ron. He knew that Ron would not be happy with his sister, Ron hadn’t warmed up to Slytherin’s like Hermione had. Even if Malfoy had apologized to Ron, he wouldn’t have forgiven him. 

After a few hours of very fitful sleep, Harry got up and got dressed, wanting to speed up this process as much as possible. An hour later, when Malfoy knocked on his door, he was ready. 

“Would you like some breakfast first?” the blond asked. 

“I’m not hungry,” he answered shortly. “I just want the shrink to clear me so I can go home.” 

Draco didn’t even ask about the word ‘shrink’ he simply nodded and lead Potter out of his room and down toward the end of the hall where the emotional healer was waiting for them. He opened the door and let the other man go ahead of him 

“Dean?” Harry looked surprised to see his old friend. “I didn’t know you were working here.” 

The dark-skinned man smiled at him. “Seamus and I have been trying to keep our personal and professional lives separate. Not everyone in the Wizarding world is accepting of two men being together. However, when Draco told me about your situation I thought that if you spoke to me as a friend and a healer it might be easier for you to open up.” 

“Like he cares,” Harry mumbled, flopping down on the sofa in Dean’s office. 

“What was that?” Dean wondered. 

“Does he have to be here?” he covered his previous statement quickly 

“Whether you like it or not Potter, I’m your healer. I took an oath to help my patients, no matter what. You are nothing to me right now except a patient that I want to see get better. You can doubt me as much as you like but I haven’t done anything untoward when it comes to your time here have I?” 

Harry hesitated. Just because Malfoy had been on his best behavior didn’t mean he wasn’t still a scheming Slytherin prat. 

“Well I see that things between you both are still incredibly tense,” Dean noted, his quick quotes quill flitting over a piece of parchment. 

“As long as he still has The Dark Mark on his arm things are going to be tense,” 

“Which is interesting considering you named one of your children after a man that bore the Mark,” 

“He was a better man than you’ll ever be,” 

“You spent most of your time at Hogwarts hating him you hypocrite. He was more of a father to me than my own was.” 

The former Gryffindor didn’t know what to say that so he just sat there, silent but very frustrated that Malfoy had gotten the last word. 

“Something occurs to me,” Dean continued when they had quieted down. “The two of you are not as different as you might think you are.” 

Harry scoffed and Draco gave his colleague a doubtful look. 

Dean ignored them both and continued to speak. “You both had tough home lives, I won’t go further into detail but neither of you was given the love and care you needed at as a child. You both come from families that have a lot of weight attached to their names and a lot was expected of you both. Your lives were both dominated by Voldemort; Harry because you were the Chosen One and Draco because you were being trained and groomed to become another Death Eater. Each of you could be the poster child for your Hogwarts houses, which is another reason you dislike each other so much. You share a love of Quidditch and you both played the same position, I could continue on but I think I’ve made my point.” 

“So we have a few things in common,” Harry spoke, getting more uncomfortable by the second. “What does that have to do with anything?” 

“Harry, why did you drink so much last night?” Dean finally asked. 

“Ginny and I are having some issues,” he answered, tone clipped. 

“Could you elaborate please?” 

The dark haired man gritted his teeth and glared at Malfoy before he continued. “Ginny wants a trial separation.” 

If Dean was shocked he didn’t show it. Harry looked over at Malfoy for any clue he might know, but that annoyingly calm façade was in place. 

“Did she tell you why?” 

“Do you remember after the war there were those ridiculous soulmate potions that were so popular? Ginny and Hermione both thought it would be romantic if we did it, so Ron and I yielded and for years nothing happened so we figured that the potions were bogus. Now as it turns out the potion worked, but Ginny isn’t my soulmate.” 

“I’m sure that’s very painful for you,” 

“If it wasn’t, I wouldn’t have drunk enough to land me here,” he countered. 

“So why are you being so hostile to Draco?” Dean asked. “After all, you rescued Draco from the fiendfyre, you spoke at both his and Narcissa’s trials.” 

“How on earth do you know that?” Harry wondered, having never shared those experiences with anyone besides Ron and Hermione. 

“I have my ways,” he answered cryptically. “So do you have any idea why your problems with Ginny could cause you to treat Healer Malfoy so badly?” 

Harry bit the inside of his cheek, raging against telling Dean what was really going on, but in the end, he knew that if he didn’t talk about it things could only get worse. 

“Ginny’s supposed soulmate is Blaise Zabini, Malfoy’s best friend.” 

That time Draco did let a flicker of surprise pass across his features before schooling them to look neutral again. 

“So you were projecting your feelings about Blaise and Ginny onto Draco because of his proximity to the man you feel is stealing your wife.” 

Harry wanted to argue but knew that he couldn’t so he just nodded. 

For a few moments, Dean was quiet, his quill scribbling, him looking over his own notes. Then finally he spoke again. 

“Harry, I know that you were not trying to hurt yourself, but I am a little worried. You have faced some incredibly difficult things in your years and I’m afraid you’ve been keeping a lot of your feelings bottled up for far too long. I am willing to sign your release forms if you are open to therapy. It doesn’t have to be with me, although I am happy to help, however, I think that talking to someone might be beneficial to you in dealing with not only your current predicament but also some of your past trauma.” 

The Boy Who Lived had never really thought about speaking to someone about his past. Most of his life he got through his issues by keeping them buried inside of them. He remembered the summer before his 5th year at Hogwarts and how he had let his feelings build up until he was angrily shouting at Ron and Hermione for something that really had not been their fault. 

“I suppose it can’t hurt just to talk to someone,” Harry sighed. “But if you don’t mind Dean, I would like someone who doesn’t know me quite as well as you.” 

“Of course Harry, anything I can do to help I will. I have the name of someone I did some of my emotional healing work with, she’s Muggleborn and she works with both magic and non-magic patients. I’ll give you her information and you can owl her to ask about an appointment. Now let me just grab your release papers and her card and I’ll be right back.” 

He got to his feet and went into a small room at the back of the office. Harry rubbed his temples and wondered if he was really making the right decision. 

“Look, Potter,” Malfoy said behind him. “I didn’t know about Ginny and Blaise. Blaise has been on the road with the Harpies for the last month so I’m not even sure he knows yet.” 

“I appreciate that Malfoy,” Harry responded, not looking at the other man. 

“And I think that you are making the right decision about talking to someone,” the blond continued. “Therapy has helped me a lot.” 

Harry looked at him. “You’re in therapy?” 

“It was actually a condition that came along with my stay out of Azkaban. For the first few years I hated it, but then I started to realize that it helped me a lot. I’ve learned how to forgive myself for mistakes I’ve made, things I’ve done wrong. It helped me realize a few things about myself, it even helped me cope with Astoria’s death.” 

Harry bit his lip, having forgotten at Malfoy’s wife had died a few months prior. This whole civil conversation between the two of them was getting a little too personal. Thankfully Malfoy sensed it too and seemed to stop speaking. Harry was just about to respond when Dean came back into the room. He handed a slip of parchment to Malfoy and then handed Harry a small card. 

“I gave her a quick Floo call and she’s expecting your owl,” Dean told him. 

“I’ll send one when I get home,” Harry told his old friend. “And I’ll owl you and Seamus and we can all go out for a pint one night.” 

“We’ll look forward to it,” Dean reached out and clasped Harry’s hand. 

Harry smiled at him one last time before he walked out of Dean’s office with Malfoy close behind. 

“Well Potter, I have Dean’s report here, and with my report, that’s enough to get you released. If you’ll go back to your room I’ll be there in a few minutes with papers for you to sign and then you can go home and put this nightmare behind you.” 

Harry chuckled. “You’re not quite terrifying enough to feature in my nightmares Malfoy.” 

The blond nodded. “I know what you mean. We’ve both faced things much more terrifying than a stupid childhood rivalry.” 

“Do you still have nightmares? 

For a moment Draco went tense but then he relaxed and nodded again. “Not as many as I used to and not as bad as they were but yes. Some nights I still wake up in a cold sweat expecting Voldemort to be just down the hall. When that happens, I sneak into Scorpius’s room and watch him sleep. Seeing him always calms me down, I think he is the first thing I’ve ever done right in my life.” 

Harry tried not to let too much surprise show on his face, hearing Malfoy talk like that about his son was heartwarming. It was something he could see himself saying about his own children and he hadn’t seen Malfoy this emotional or vulnerable since the day in Moaning Myrtle’s bathroom when he had almost killed him. Guilt twisted in the Gryffindor’s gut and the urge to say something began to rise in his throat. Sudden he realized that the blond wasn’t the only one of them who had something to apologize for, but that didn’t mean Harry was ready to say the words yet. 

Just as Harry was about to say something to the other, man a knock came at the door. Malfoy opened it and ushered Hermione inside, Rose and Hugo following behind her. They both greeted their Uncle happily and Harry felt his mood brighten almost instantly. 

“I’ll be back with the papers for you to sign and then you can leave with Hermione,” Draco announced softly before disappearing. 

“How are you feeling?” Hermione asked as Harry hugged his niece and nephew. 

“Better,” he answered honestly. “I spoke to Dean and he has a therapist he wants me to owl.” 

“I think that’s great Harry,” she told him honestly. “You were so worried about everyone else after the war that you never took care of yourself and all of the emotional scars you have.” 

“The war was over a long time ago Hermione,” he reminded her, remembering when Ginny had said something similar. 

“It’s never too late to heal things, Harry,” she fixed him with a pointed look as Malfoy entered the room again. 

He handed Harry a stack of forms, told him where to sign and to come back to the hospital if he began to feel any urges to harm himself. When Harry was finally finished with the papers the blond held another small card out to him. 

“If you need anything Potter, just floo me,” he said quickly. “But I know that you’ll be in good hands with Hermione. Take care of yourself.” 

He was just about to leave again when Harry called out. 

“Hey, Malfoy!” 

Draco turned back to face him, green eyes meeting grey ones. 

“Thank you for your help,” Harry spoke softly. 

The blond gave him and nod, the corners of his mouth turning up a little at the edges before he turned and left the room again. 

“Why don’t you come and stay with us for a few days,” Hermione suggested as they began to walk out of the hospital with the kids. 

“Hermione, I’m not going to hurt myself,” he insisted. 

“I know that” she told him just as firmly. “But I think that going to Grimmauld or back to the house and being alone wouldn’t help matters. You can take some time off from work and do some thinking. If you come and stay with us, you’ll be around the kids and they’ll keep you distracted and you could even go into the shop with Ron and George.” 

Harry mulled over her offer for a few minutes in silence as they walked toward the floo in the lobby and got in line behind other patients waiting to use it. He couldn’t deny that getting away from the house and his job for a bit was appealing, and if he needed to take the kids from Ginny he would be easy to find with Ron and Hermione. 

“I think that’s a great idea, Hermione,” Harry finally told her as their turn to floo finally came. “A little time away will be just what I need.” 

She smiled and hugged him before ushering Rose into the floo with her brother, all of them making their way back to the Granger-Weasley abode. 

A few floors up Draco knocked on the door to Dean’s office again, entering when he heard him call. 

The Malfoy heir pushed his blond hair back out of his eyes. “Still on for our session later today?” 

Dean nodded. “I expect you have a few things on your mind after last night.” 

He sighed. “You have no idea.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to everyone who follows, leaves kudos or reviews! I promise I'll be working on my Drarry works a lot more often and I have a few new things coming up so be sure to follow me!


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